On
DRC, ICP Asks of Atrocity
Video, Why UN
Still Supports Army, Spox Says
Its Only Kasai
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 20 – The UN spends
more than a billion dollars a
year in public funds in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo, yet when massacres are
documented, even filmed, the
UN does next to nothing. UN
Peacekeeping chief Herve
Ladsous has been responsible
for this inaction, in the DRC
for example covering up the
Army rapes in Minova, as he
covered up and justified his
peacekeepers' rares in the
Central African Republic. What
will also-French replacement
Jean Pierre Lacroix do, on
filmed atrocities?
Inner City Press
on February 20 asked UN deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq about
just such a video, and why the
UN continues to work with the
Congolese Army. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask you about this
DRC video of summary
executions by the army of
civilians, including women and
children. A number of
countries have spoken out, but
I’m wondering, particularly
given since the UN does joint
operations with the… the… the
DRC authorities, what steps is
the UN taking to investigate
the… the murders shown on the
video and to see whether it,
in fact, supports and works
with any of the units
involved?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
first of all, we don’t provide
any support to the Congolese
Armed Forces in the Kasais,
which is where this video
applies. All current
cooperation with the Armed
Forces of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo is
focused on efforts to
neutralize armed groups in the
Eastern DRC according to the
established procedures under
the Human Rights Due Diligence
Policy.
The Mission has requested from
the DRC authorities a credible
and independent investigation
into the actions of the
Congolese Armed Forces in the
Kasais. MONUSCO has also
deployed a mobile monitoring
response team in the area to
investigate and document human
rights violations and has
reinforced its civilian,
police and military engagement
at all levels with the
Congolese authorities to
address the situation.
Inner City Press: I
guess one question I have
about this is… I mean, I
understand that the units are
broken down by geography, but
the way… the… the… the… it
seems to reflect so badly on
the army as a whole, the fact
this would… that unarmed
people would be shot in this
way and that it would be
filmed and circulated in the
way that it was that I’m
wondering, at what point is…
is the… is the human rights
due diligence only triggered
by the specific unit that does
something, or is there, in
fact, command responsibility
given, like, could there be
commanders in Kinshasa in
charge of not only the units
in Kasais but also, to some
degree, the units in the east
and their failure to… to… to
train, investigate, or
discipline would… would
trigger loss of support?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
as I just mentioned, that’s
why we requested… even though
we don’t cooperate with the
Congolese Armed Forces in the
Kasais, we have requested from
the DRC authorities a credible
and independent investigation
into the Congolese Armed
Forces’ overall action in the
Kasais.
Regarding the video,
obviously, it shows very
shocking footage of killings
and executions of civilians by
uniformed personnel. The
Mission is looking into
verifying the source of the
video and identifying whether
it is linked to the recent
events in the Kasais.
This video is one piece of
information among many that
we’re looking into in
connection to the spate of
incidents that have taken
place in Kananga in the past
days.
We'll have
more on this.
***
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